Today as drones continue to become a household term, most people equate the term to anything that flies and the size of which is that of toy planes. In fact, there are also those who do not agree that consumer drones be termed as drones. Thus, it may come as a surprise to some to know that drones can also be tiny, as in the size of a bee or smaller.

In the ongoing quest to shrink drones, engineers have built a flying robot so small it can sit in the palm of your hand. But don’t let its size fool you—these intelligent nanoquadrotors are far smarter than any drone we’ve seen so far. Micro-robotic technology is a rapidly growing area of exploration, and one in which the Defense Department is eager to delve into. The government is pouring money into researching and developing artificially intelligent swarming robots…continue to read more here:

However, there are also miniature drones, or what are known as swarming robots that are not designed to fly out in the open skies, but travel inside the human body. A past article by the Medical Daily.com reported: “Research on swarming robots may lead to the use of tiny nanobots for micro-medicine – swarms of miniature drones that could attack harmful pathogens in the human body with microscopic precision.” Read more here:

Now, in a recent feature article on SingularityHub.com, we learn that DNA nanobots are a reality.

“No, no it’s not science fiction; it’s already happening,” said Ido Bachelet to a somewhat incredulous audience member at a London event late last year. Bachelet, previously of Harvard’s Wyss Institute and faculty member at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, is a leading figure in the field of DNA nanotechnology.

In a brief talk, Bachelet said DNA nanobots will soon be tried in a critically ill leukemia patient. The patient, who has been given roughly six months to live, will receive an injection of DNA nanobots designed to interact with and destroy leukemia cells—while causing virtually zero collateral damage in healthy tissue.